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By Pedro Fonseca
RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Pressured by state
governors over a shortage of coronavirus vaccine, Brazil's
health minister on Wednesday promised to mobilize 11.3 million
shots by the end of the month, but included doses the delivery
of which has yet to be confirmed.
With vaccination campaigns halted in recent days in major
cities like Rio de Janeiro and Salvador due to a lack of shots,
Minister Eduardo Pazuello is facing increasing criticism from
governors and mayors over the inoculation program.
After Pazuello met with governors on Wednesday afternoon,
the ministry issued a statement saying 11.3 million doses would
be made available in February.
That figure includes 9.3 million doses secured by the
Butantan institute in Sao Paulo through its partnership with
China's Sinovac Biotech Ltd, plus 2 million doses of the
vaccine made by Britain's AstraZeneca Plc, according to
the statement.
However, delivery of the AstraZeneca doses has not been
confirmed by India where they are being produced and they are
still under negotiation with AstraZeneca, Brazil's research
institute Fiocruz, responsible for importing the vaccines, said
in a separate statement.
The Health Ministry did not immediately comment on the
inclusion of non-secured vaccines from AstraZeneca in its plan.
The AstraZeneca vaccine was originally planned as the
central pillar of Brazil's national inoculation program, but so
far the majority of doses have come from Sinovac.
(Reporting by Pedro Fonseca, writing by Sabrina Valle, Editing
by Rosalba O'Brien)
